Several months ago, I've watched a Spanish-language Disney+ original series called La partitura secreta (or The Secret Score in English). You'd be forgiven if you've never heard of it, but it's a great series with a compelling mystery element.
The show centers on teenage Latina Maya Manglar and her close friend Nati García, with Maya still curious about other friend Leo Beltrán's mysterious disappearance prior to the series. When Leo mails a box to Maya containing his father's golden spiral pendant and a note telling her to take care of it for a few days, Maya notices the box was mailed from the Staqui Institute, and so the two of them take a three-week summer course at the conservatory, with Maya primarily wanting answers for what happened to Leo.
Maya and Nati would go into the Staqui Muesum outside of classes to investigate, where they'd — along with some other music students such as musical prodigy, yet anti-social Max del Valle; prankster and casanova-wannabe Andy Rivera; and shy, paranoid, but friendly Tenoch Molina— discover a hidden room containing some ancient sheet music. Max plays the music on a clavichord, and after listening to it, the quintet realizes that the music granted all of them magical powers related to their personalities, and the gang use their powers to search for answers. Little did they know, two other students (Connie Díaz Jauffred and Paulina Marín) also heard the music and gained powers, or that some nearby enemies are after the music score and its power.
These enemies are extremely cunning, clever, and charismatic in their schemes to get the heroes' half of the score, bring Leo back to obtain his half of the score, then play both halves to activate the silver score to obtain the ultimate power.
Dod (on the left) is the (hidden) main antagonist of the series.
He's one of the teachers in the Staqui Institute. At first glance, he's a friendly, encouraging teacher who cares about his students reaching their potential when playing music, but in reality he was secretly trying to find the both halves of the score and obtain the power of the silver score which would grant a power "you can't even imagine". He also chased down Leo who had half the score prior to his disappearance, and Rafa —one of his students— was working alongside him. Rafa and Dod have been searching for years with no success, but when Maya and her friends gained their powers from half the score, things would start to get interesting...
Dod's Magnificence
For most of season 1 he secretly provided Rafa with some advice and pointers for getting ahold of the score and its power (though Rafa's just his capable without his help). Unlike Rafa, who tends to be more active in his role in chasing the heroes and the score, Dod prefers to stay in the shadows, only getting involved when necessary, and mostly communicating via phone calls. Thus, the heroes knew that Rafa was after the score, and was talking to someone on the phone, but never found out it was Dod... at least not until it was just about too late.
In public, he's a friendly music teacher who encourages creativity among his students, and is super nice and approachable. He's the last person you'd expect to be the big bad. But he can shift his tone from lovable to serious at the snap of a finger. He tends to wear glasses most of the time — especially in public — but he'll take them off whenever he gets serious in private and his mask of goodness comes off (showcasing that he doesn't need glasses, but simply wears them as part of his "friendly teacher" act).
After being revealed as the main villain, we see first head just how cunning he is:
When Rafa calls Dod about how Maya's gang tried to enter the principal's office for the pendant, Dod tells Rafa and the group not to do anything yet.
He consistently criticized Rafa in nearly everything he did, including playing music, but according to Dod, he did that so Rafa would focus on the score. He says that being obsessed about being the best player of the conservatory would make Rafa lose his focus... especially since what they were getting with the score was far bigger.
He has Rafa get Connie and Paulina help him (Rafa) take the pendant from Maya's group, without revealing he (Dod) himself was involved, as he'd personally speak to them later.
Andy would use his shapeshifting powers to turn into Rafa so he could find out who Rafa's master was, and get intel on the group's plan. But Dod sees through the act right way, as he knew there was a shapeshifter in Maya's group, and gets Andy into reveal himself by threatening to expel him. Then after Andy reveals himself, he takes Andy away to try getting him to talk.
He deliberately allows the heroes to regain their powers (which in turn would allow Rafa to finally gain his own power) so they could play the score during the full moon and bring Leo back. Then, he and Rafa could get ahold of Leo's half of the score, and use both halves for the silver score.
He was able piece together that Rafa's power was to replicate other powers, off of very little context. (But he tells Rafa in no uncertain terms that using Pau's voice command power on him wouldn't end well for Rafa)
He also pieced together where Gael was hiding his part of the score, also from very little context.
Rafa Díaz Jauffred (on the right) is the secondary antagonist, and yet just as cunning and crafty as his master.
He's a social bird at the Staqui Institute who's a chick magnet thanks to his charisma, good looks and musical talent. He's a very talented student in music and his classes, who was at the regular course since freshman year. But he was secretly working with Dod (one of the teachers at the conservatory) in trying to find the score and obtain the power that comes with it. He also chased down Leo who had half the score prior to his disappearance. Rafa and Dod have been searching for years with no success, but when Maya and her friends gained their powers from half the score, Rafa's luck would begin to change.
Rafa's Magnificence
He's Wicked Cultured and after learning his sister Connie and the latter's friend Paulina Marín gained powers from the music score, he's easily able to use their powers to his advantage.
When he first learns that his sister Connie gained a power in the form of hearing voices by touch, he's quick to take advantage of the situation, as he promises to help Connie out with controlling her power — Especially since Connie hated her power at first, and couldn't control it. — and scares Connie into helping him by telling her that her power was a curse, claiming that Joan of Arc heard voices too, and was burnt alive.
For Paulina, Rafa would have her use her "voice command" power on Nati so she'd tell them where the score was, only for Nati would use her own power to repeatedly erase the information they had learnt. (However... that's not Rafa's fault, as he didn't know Nati had such a power.) If it weren't for a number of plot conveniences on the heroes' side, Rafa would have came out on top a lot sooner.
And as for Rafa himself, his own power is likely the most powerful and dangerous of the bunch: the ability to copy other people's powers, by looking at other people and asking for their powers. Once he learns about what his power can do, he make full use of it, using Andy's power to shapeshift into Maya and tricking Gael into giving Rafa the score, and then shifting into Nati in order to get close to Maya's gang and steal both halves of the score from under their noses. Plus, it's ultimately his own quick thinking that allows him and Dod to come out on top.
While he may be Dod's assistant, and takes orders from his, he's skilled at what he does in his own right even without Dod. For instance, he was quickly able to figure out how Connie and Paulina's powers worked and used them to aid him in finding the secret room and the score, while leaving both of them in the dark about Dod and the latter's intentions with the score, mostly talking to him on his phone, prior to Dod's reveal as the Big Bad. He always made sure to talk in code, never referring to Dod by name or being too specific about his endgame, in case certain people tried to eavesdrop on his phone conversations. Even the heroes couldn't figure out who Rafa was working with until near the end.
Also, spoiler alert: The two of them come out on top! Thanks to Rafa shapeshifting into Nati using Andy's shapeshifting powers, Rafa manages to get close enough to the heroes as the play their half of the score to bring Leo back, then sneaks away with both halves of the score. Rafa would deliver the full score to Dod as both of them prepared to summon the silver score, ending season 1 victorious.
I'm definitely looking forward to a season 2. I can't think of a single reason why these two shouldn't be approved as MBs. I'd propose them myself but I'm not whitelisted yet. The show's on Disney+ right now. Watch the show whenever you get the chance. You won't be disappointed.